I'm at the turning point, everything is broken down and the stock cam is out. I was on the fence between installing the cam myself or having a shop do it because it was nearing my mechanical ability comfort level. But now that I'm into it, it's not bad. It's just a lot of stuff that needs to be removed. It's been expensive because I bought all of the tools to make the job go smoothly, so for those on a budget, make sure you take that into account. I bought the Kent Moore flywheel holding tool (really nice piece - as it should for the price) for my A4 since I wasn't comfortable with jamming screw drivers in my fly wheel.

From my experience today, I would offer the following advice to those who are getting ready to install their first cam:

1) Make sure you aren't working against a deadline so you aren't inclined to rush.

2) Have alot of lay down area to rest parts.

3) I have a 2001 f-body and the rear coil pack bracket bolt on the passenger side was a pain. I wasted a lot of time trying to use a deep socket and a gear wrench to get this bolt out. I used my hack saw to cut my gear wrench so that I had 2.5" from the center of the wrench to the new end. This worked our really well and I got the bolt out my first attempt with the shorter gear wrench. It sucks hacking up a nice expensive gear wrench but it's worth it.

4) Currently Autozone rents two type of three jaw pulley pullers, a big one and a small one. Get the small one (OEM 27011), using it I got the crank pulley off in about 15 minutes. I was using a longer crank bolt (M16x2.0x120) with several M16 washers between the bottom of the bolt head and the crank to help relieve stress on the crank threads.

5) Autozone has a torque wrench that you can rent which will measure upto 250 ft-lb. This is handy for reinstalling the crank pulley, and saves you from having to buy one for a one time use.

6) For my breaker bar to get the crank bolt loose, I used a 3/4" diameter by 4'-0" long steel pipe (Schedule 40) which I purchased from Lowes.

7) Follow the instructions from www.ls1howto.com

8) Make sure you have a set of 1/4" drive deep sockets, my 3/8" drive socket wrench was too long to get in a lot of places. Also, pick up a set of metric gear wrenches.

9) I am performing the installation by myself and it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. For the fans and radiator, I took the fans and radiator out separately which made their removal easy for one person.

10) Don't get brake cleaner on your cut up hands!

11) I used 5/16" Oak dowels to prevent the lifters from falling. I had to sand down the passenger side dowel a little bit to get it to go in. I sanded it into a "D" shape over 1/3 of it's length.


The new cam (TSP 228R) and valvetrain goes in tomorrow so hopefully it will go smoothly!

 

Subscribing. Im in the same boat, not sure if I want to do mine myself or not. Im a little intimidated.

 

Good pointers! Subscribed....

 

It's not that bad of a job if you just take your time and have the right tools. A full set of gear wrenches, along with an assortment of different length sockets and extensions makes working on these cars much easier. I recommend the pulley tool from Summit. It's not very expensive and works fine for keeping it from turning.

 

Nothing is impossible when you have the right tools. Instead of cutting your ratchet, why didn't you just use a 1/4" drive?

I have a FACOM ratchet that is barely 3" in length. You can use step-up adapters if you don't want to buy 1/4" drive deep sockets and use your current 3/8" drive deep sockets.

Clarke does expendable ratchets, you can extend a 1/4" ratchet to the length of a standard 3/8", and a 3/8" ratchet to the length of a 1/2" ratchet. I also have a pair of these along with my FACOM ratchets. Both can extend to 2 more lengths from fully closed.

You need to build up your toolbox, and learn to mix up parts for certain jobs. You will figure out what you need along the way.

I am doing my cam swap on my LT1 soon, and thankfully I already have a professional toolbox. All that I have missing is the pully puller, heads on valve spring compressor tool, and a fitting to stick into the spark plug hole for the air compressor to keep the valve up.

Good luck with it.

 

I agree with ADM but in the sense that you dont NEED all the special tools. having 1/2inch, 3/8, and 1/4 full set drives does help as well as 12 an 6-point sockets in deep and shallow sets. Harbor Freight is great for grabbing cheap sets for initial sets and going to craftsman or your favorite brand. I prefer craftsman bc SEARS is close and always has 4 or 5 of every socket, so ;-)

Good luck with the rest.... If you have any questions I'll keep checking the thread to see if I can help. Take your time and if you think brake cleaner hurts.... Try parts washer! lol. OUCH!

Hell Dusty... I'd drive down from augusta to give you a hand if it gets that complicated. Just pay my gas. Its always fun turning wrenches with LS1 enthusiasts.

 

Its fun turning wrenches in any car.

Always buy 12 point sockets, they are quicker to attach on a bolts or nut (but please buy decent quality). If you can afford Craftsman, then do get them. They are one of my favorite brands of sockets, incredible quality.

But I must admit, if a bolt has rounded out enough for a 12 point to slip, a 6 point is your best friend.

If you can get your hands on universal sockets as well, they can come in handy. I also pack a set of crowfoots for the places where a spanner cannot get it.

Stubby wrenches are also great to have.

Just don't get addicted to tools like most of us haha

 

I prefer to use 6 point sockets if at all possible. It will save you the headache of a rounded bolt/nut frequently. Something else you should have when working on these cars is a good set of swivels for your sockets.

 

+1

Always use 6 point. Accoutants use 12 point sockets for assembling swing sets.

 

Universal sockets are a swivel with a socket end. Expensive, but work better when tight on space.

High quality sockets do not round bolts. I have used both cheap and expensive, and you can tell from how much play the socket will have on the head of the bolt if its of right measurement or not. Also, the socket having the correctly shaped teeth determines if it will slip around the head or not.

If you want quality, you must pay the price.

 

Dont forget to put red thread locker on the cam bolts and came retainer bolts as well as your rocker bolts.

 

Keep at it, I just did my cam, timing set, springs, header install this past winter. It was the first engine work I ever did. It turned out great and it is really rewarding to work on your own car. You are 100% right, the tools get expensive and there is a LOT more to a cam swap than the cam and springs! I would like to add to #10 and say 'cut up' hands are an understatement, my hands looked like hamburger meat when I was done. I ended up buying mechanics gloves (which I think are hard to work with). Also if you plan to do this and you dont have a kreeper, GET ONE. I did the headers without one and I was so sore from getting up and down and crawling around I HAD to get one.

 

You should throw up some pics and make a detailed go through. It would be cool and a good change to see whats all going on

 

I just completed my cam swap today. me and my dad did it over the weekend. It wasnt that difficult at all. believe me, if i can do this anyone can. before i bought my car i have never worked on anything.

 

Day 2 has come and went, it wasn't nearly as productive as I had hoped but I'm getting closer. I got the cam in, and 14 valve springs. I accidentally lost a retainer, I have no idea where it went. I'll get another one ordered tomorrow and hopefully be able to wrap this project up next Saturday.

Installing the cam was pretty easy, just try to keep it level and rotate it, don't force it.

For the spring installation, I used the method of bringing the piston up to the top of the cylinder and letting the valves rest on them. It worked out pretty good, the only tricky part was that I really had to pay attention to how the springs were lined up in the compressor. It I was off a little, the valve stem would touch the retainer and I couldn't pull the valve up to install the locks. There were a few cylinders where I had to compress the springs twice to get the valve stems to line up. This was time consuming. Unfortunately it took me about 5 tries on #8 so that burned a lot of time. I bought the dual valve spring compressor from Speed Inc. which is the same as the one that Crane made. This tool saved me a good amount of time and I would recommend it. If you use this method and you are having trouble getting the valve stem up high enough to install the locks, rotate the crank while you watch the valve stem, often you'll get that little extra height that you need. For first time cam installers, after you are done swapping your valve springs, make sure you take a pen magnet and run it around the valve springs and all around the inside of the heads. When the stock locks come out, they have a tendency to fly everywhere and you don't want to leave one in your engine. I actually pulled out a stock lock when I did the sweep with my pen magnet, I'm glad I caught it, it was hiding in a little pool of oil.

I got the timing cover back on with a new seal, it was pretty straight forward. For first timers, pay attention to the orientation of the timing cover gasket, the cover looks symmetrical but it's not. The sides are a little different near the bottom.

Tomorrow I'm putting on my Powerbond UD pulley, so hopefully that will go well and I can start putting the car back together while I wait for my retainer. The end is in sight!

 

Throw up some progress pics

 

Some good spring advice for anyone also using the top dead center method:

The valve drops a tiny amount, but this little bit can make the difference in getting the retainers on or off. I took a piece of string and made a little noose (Im no boy scout). You can put this over the valve and slide it up until it catches the grove the retainers sit in. You can the keep tention on it (pull up), and keep the valve nice and high. I figured it out about half way through, made the last 6 or 7 a breeze!

 

I've always used the compressed air method, but this is an interesting idea. I assume you still perform this operation at TDC in case the noose slips.

 

Alright, did a little more after work tonight, got the crank pulley on, reinstalled the starter and got the water pump on.

I was really happy with crank pulley install. I tossed the pulley in the oven at 170 for about 8 minutes. I got it just hot enough where I would be comfortable holding it for a second. I put it on the crank and it slide on about 1/4". I used my longer crank bolt to slide it on a little further before I switched back to the old stock crank bolt, but since the pulley was still hot, it slid on with very little effort. I got it torqued to 240 ft-lb using the torque wrench that I rented from Autozone. I'm glad I lift weights regularly. I need to get a shorter breaker bar to torque the stock crank bolt the extra 140 degree. I'm using a 48" pipe where I need a 36" pipe that will be able to clear under the hood.

Almost done, feeling good! I wish I has some pictures to show but unfortunately my wife took our camera on her trip.

 

If you've got that big *** pulley bolt on your almost home free.

It's downhill from there.